Chapter 39
The reign of One of Many, née Annika Hansen; Queen of Borg.
Year 00, Month 12, Day 01, Hour 23, Minute 44.
Sitting in the living room of their quarters, Seven glanced up to see B'Elanna still watching her.
"You are doing it again," She mildly accused as she put the PADD she had been reading down.
"How long?" B'Elanna asked a little sheepishly.
"6.4 minutes since I noticed," Seven said with a tolerant smile. "You have an internal chronometer just like me; you should know."
B'Elanna got up from the table and moved to Seven's side. Knowing what came next, the blonde willingly let herself be helped to her feet so that they could move to the couch to do some serious snuggling.
It had not been the first time that B'Elanna had been caught staring at her Mate. She stared at her often actually. Pretty much from the first time they admitted that they were in love and B'Elanna could get away with so openly looking at the blonde. Sometimes she looked because she simply couldn't believe that this gorgeous woman was her Mate. Sometimes because Seven was very capable of turning the Klingon on simply by moving, or licking her lips, or... Sometimes because Seven amazed her by the sheer number of tasks she was doing at the same time. B'Elanna had long since decided that Seven was not just the Borg Queen; she was also the Queen of multitasking.
But the last few weeks there had been a different kind of staring. The closer Seven came to giving birth, the more B'Elanna sometimes simply stared at her because she was seeing the most incredible person in the universe, who happened to be carrying their baby around.
B'Elanna was glad that they had taken Lonika's suggestion on how to impregnate Seven. Because to B'Elanna there was not even a shred of doubt that she was truly and fully the other parent of Vasha. She had been the one that had made love to Seven, she had been the one that impregnated her Mate with her own DNA. She. She never used the word because it sounded oh so wrong to her, but in her mind she truly had 'fathered' their child, which was the result of their love for each other.
Once they were comfortably sitting on the couch, B'Elanna admitted, "Internal chronometer or not, you simply make me lose track of time."
Then she winked. "Besides, for me to know how long I was staring at you, I would first have to mark the point where I start, which would mean that I would notice that I started. Therefore I cannot mark when I start looking at you without noticing that I start looking at you; it's one of those paradox thingies that you like so much my Princess."
"Logic deduction coming from a Klingon, the universe must be ending."
"Which one?" B'Elanna countered. "If that theory is correct then there must be trillions of alternative universes out there. Hell, we're creating more with every choice we make. Maybe it's a good thing that I end a few by doing things that must mean that a universe is ending."
"I see that the scientific reports are actually becoming of interest to you now," Seven noted.
"Oh, I wouldn't say that," B'Elanna disagreed. "They're still boring as hell. It's just that now that I have that cranial implant regulating the information flow and storage in, and to, my brain, I now actually understand what the words mean."
She grinned before admitting. "Of course, my brain is still no match for your wonderful brain, but it does help."
"You must keep in mind that the fact that my brain makeup is different than most Humans is the very reason that I was selected as a replacement drone for the old Queen," Seven reminded. "Even with all the technology the Borg have they cannot change a brain to where it matches mine unless nature already prepared the brain. They can enhance brains, but not create a better design, so to speak."
Seven put her hands on her belly before reminding softly, and a bit sad, "Vasha will have my brain makeup. At least for the most."
B'Elanna kissed her before leaning forward and placing a kiss on the belly as well. "It's that 'the most' that counts. Seven, with the nanoprobes picking and choosing what they want from both our DNA, I knew up front that Vasha would have your brains. I didn't mind, I think you have a good set of gray cells up there. But I admit that I was very happy to find that for a few areas of the brain they actually went with my Klingon DNA. It'll make Vasha's personality a mix between yours and mine; not a mere copy of you. She'll be a new person, down to her character."
"And I admit that I was surprised to find out that the Borg actually preferred your Klingon stubbornness over my,"
"Human stubbornness," B'Elanna interrupted playfully. "Actually, if you think about it, it does make sense. Klingons are damn stubborn, yes. But a ruler needs that as well. But more importantly, despite being stubborn, Klingons are in general able to listen to reason. Just that too often their upbringing makes them make stupid choices for things like false, or misplaced, honor. With us teaching Vasha honor, but not having to stick to the elaborate crap like children having to carry on doing things, or suffering, because of what long dead grandparents once did, she'll grow up to be someone that makes a point and sticks to it. Unless good arguments can persuade her otherwise. At least I hope."
"We will see," Seven could only say. "The future will be interesting."
"It will," B'Elanna agreed. She moved until her head was resting on the swollen belly.
"Am I okay like this?" She asked, not wanting to hurt her lover.
"You are," Seven assured.
After a moment of comfortable silence, B'Elanna asked, "Alright, I think I'm ready now. When I got my implants I had to get the cranial implant as well because it basically regulates all other implants. You said I would notice changes, but that my personality wouldn't change; you were right. Now that I'm finally over actually having them, and am used to some of the neat things they enable me to do, please explain their workings to me. Starting with the cranial implant."
"You could check for yourself," Seven said amused. "You just need to link to the Hive,"
"Seven," B'Elanna playfully growled, only to feel movement under her chin. "Oh, she liked that."
B'Elanna growled again, drawing it out and then softening into a purr. There was more movement. She pulled up Seven's shirt until she could place her mouth against Seven's warm skin before speaking. Purring and rumbling as much as she could.
"Seven, I'm getting used to using those implants, but to actually connect not just to the Collective, but directly to the Hive mind, it still scares me a little. So humor me and explain it to me in ways that make it sound great to me instead of me hearing a cold description down to the last boring detail."
"Very well," Seven relented. "Let me see if I can explain this to you in a way where you will not only understand it, but even think that it is 'cool', as you like to say."
B'Elanna grinned. "Good luck."
"See the brain of most Humanoids as a computer unit. Now, the actual computer unit itself has only a very limited amount of storage space; only one data crystal. That crystal is used for basic functions that you normally do not have to think of, like breathing and walking. There the cranial implant comes in by making it possible to actually access that information. For instance, you need to breathe, and depending on what you do you automatically breathe faster or slower. The cranial implant makes it possible for you to also decide not to breathe for a certain amount of time and instead shut off oxygen supply to areas of the body that do not need that oxygen that badly."
"So?"
"So, since you are not yet willing to connect to the Hive to find out how to do this, I might need to train you, but you are now capable of holding your breath for up to fifteen minutes without suffering brain damage. Though you might feel some other discomfort for as long as your nanoprobes need to repair potential damage."
"So you're saying I can hold my breath longer than normal if need to, but only really do it if need be because otherwise I might have, say a stomach ache for a day because my intestines were deprived of the oxygen that they too need, just not as bad as my brain?"
"That is a good analogy," Seven agreed. "Another thing you will be able to do now is place yourself into a deep coma that shuts off all of the body and only barely keeps you alive. This will enable you to, for instance, prolong your life if critically wounded. Now, as I said, this part has to do with that one data storage crystal."
"Still talking figuratively of course," B'Elanna reminded, mostly to show that she was still following the explanation.
"Indeed. But continuing figuratively, the rest of the brain exists out of one thousand data crystals that are pretty much used in the same way as you normally use your PADDs. Meaning, the ones you use the most often or have data that is extremely important to you are kept within easy range. Those are the things you easily remember. Like for instance my name and endearments you use for me."
"I see where you're going," B'Elanna interrupted. "Just like I have those PADDs, I also have PADDs that I hardly use and where it sometimes takes me ten minutes or so just to find that damn PADD that I 'think' holds the info I need."
"And that is where the cranial implant comes in. What it basically does is to establish a direct link between the main computer unit and every single data crystal so that you can access that information just as fast as that main crystal. However, it is not practical for you to basically think all your knowledge at the same time all the time; your brain would overheat, so to speak. So the cranial implant also catalogues just where in your brain information is stored. You still have several data crystals that are used for information that is very important to you so that you can remember that within one nanosecond if need be, but do not think it all the time if you do not need it. But if the information is not stored there than the cranial implant basically sends a 'query all' command to all data crystals at the same time so that most of the time the information is found within seconds at most instead of minutes, hours, or days as it is now sometimes."
"That does sound kinda cool," B'Elanna had to admit. "So does that mean that I have instant recall and a photographic memory like you now? I do know that I'm remembering more than I did before."
"Close, but no. Where I have instant recall from nature, you do not. But you are now very close. But there might still be occasions where you actually need to think for a few minutes because, to keep using the comparison, the information was stored on the data crystal that was considered the least important and most rarely used and therefore even though it too responded to the 'query all' command, its information was assessed as last. But for most you might almost call it instant recall because most things will come to you within five seconds or less."
"I'll settle for that," B'Elanna said, liking the sound of that. There had been more occasions than she liked to admit where she had thought about something for days; knowing that the knowledge was somewhere in her mind, but that it just wouldn't come to her.
"You will also not have a photographic memory," Seven continued. "You will still be able to forget things, and you still need time to digest new things you learned. However, before, you could forget something in the way that the information was still in your mind, but you just could not access it. That is now no longer possible. Now you can only forget something if the information has left your mind. So now you know for a fact that if you cannot think of information in ten minutes at most, then it is no longer in your mind and you need to look it up again."
"Hmm, you're right. That's kinda cool too," B'Elanna agreed. "At least now when I don't remember something I don't have to keep trying and rack my brain to see if I don't know it after all. If I don't know I don't know, period. I like that. Now, the cranial implant also regulates the implants?"
"It does. However, as far as that is concerned it would be for the best if you simply ignore that."
B'Elanna chuckled. "I can't believe that you just told me to simply ignore something. But, um, why?"
"Because of how the implant is designed," Seven explained. "Tell me, do you feel your heart right now? Or your liver, or your eyes for that matter? Hopefully not, because these parts of the body are designed by nature in such a way that you only feel them if there is something wrong with them. In that regard the cranial implant functions in much the same way. It regulates your implants but you do not feel it. However, if there is something wrong with an implant the cranial implant sends the information to your brain for you to notice. Even if you do not actually feel the implant, you will suddenly know for sure that, for instance, the production of your nanoprobes has stopped. You will also know what should be done to rectify the problem, and how long it will be before this situation endangers you."
B'Elanna thought about that for a moment. While doing so she moved away only to turn and lay back down with her head on Seven's stomach, this time while facing the blonde.
"Do not suffocate," Seven said amused.
Knowing only too well what her Mate meant, B'Elanna kissed one of the blonde's breasts. "I always loved the fact that you have big breasts, but I think that you're overdoing it a bit now baby."
"Funny. For your information, it is normal for breasts to get bigger during pregnancy. And it is also normal for women to hold back on giving their partners the pleasure of sex for all the mistakes they made during said pregnancy. That remark just cost you a week of no touching my breasts."
"Alright, as long as I can still touch your pussy."
"B'Elanna Torres, you are treading into dangerous territory."
B'Elanna laughed. "Come on baby, you really don't think that I would be satisfied with only that. I love your boobs, and I know how much you love it when I play with them."
"I do," Seven agreed. "Have I told you before how much I really like that the both of us are full body persons?"
"I see that you're picking up on my rhetorical questions thing," B'Elanna noted. "But yes, I agree. That woman I told you about? My first female sexual experience? Damn, she was pussy focused. That was what it was all about with her. No breasts, no ass... well, a little touching. But she preferred to focus as fast as possible. She was normally between my legs within a minute of getting naked."
"Maybe she just liked your taste that much. Sometimes I too am tempted to start dining immediately," Seven admitted.
"Really?" B'Elanna asked slightly surprised. "I thought you liked the buildup just fine."
"I do," Seven assured. "But that is because I am smart enough to realize that I can have the best of both worlds. I can have the buildup, and after that I have all the more to lick and lick and lick and,"
"If you say lick one more time I'll have you do exactly that, right now," B'Elanna threatened.
"Lick."
"Oh, I was hoping you would say that."
"You are not moving," Seven noted. "You need to move for me to lick."
"In a moment," B'Elanna assured. "First I need to figure that cranial implant thing out. Now, let's see if I understand what you said right. Pain is the body's way of telling you that something is wrong. As long as you feel no pain you assume that everything is alright. So basically it's the same with the cranial implant, just that pain is replaced with information. As long as I get no information I know for sure that all is alright."
"Correct," Seven agreed, not minding at all that B'Elanna first wanted to get that subject over with before moving on to a much more satisfying subject. "You might want to know that you can access that information as well to also check at exactly what levels the implants are working even though you have not received a warning yet. If you want I can also teach you how to do that, or you could connect with the Hive and know right away how it is done."
B'Elanna thought about it for a moment. "How about a compromise? You explain the rest of the implants to me at a later time, and tell me things that I'll be able to do, like you just did. And once we have done that I finally connect to the Hive to say hi and then I'll fill in the information I need for myself, like how to access that information without it being at a warning level yet."
"I like that compromise," Seven agreed. "So does that mean that we are done talking about implants for tonight?"
"We are," B'Elanna agreed.
"In that case, can I lick now?"
B'Elanna laughed and got up, only to part her Mate's legs and sit between them. "Later. Normally you go first,"
"Since you have that Klingon hornyness that prevents you from being able to wait without bursting," Seven interrupted.
"Funny... but true," B'Elanna agreed. "But tonight it's not as bad and I want to make use of that. How about I treat you like the Queen you are, my Princess?"
"Ah, so you do not want to be Royally screwed, tonight, instead you want to screw someone over Royally?"
"Eh, that only registers as a three on the fun meter, my dear," B'Elanna said while tilting her head a little.
Seven shrugged, knowing that even after a year, B'Elanna still got a kick out of seeing Seven shrug on the very few occasions where she allowed herself to do so. "As Lonika likes to say; you cannot win them all."
"Don't let Katzi hear you say that." B'Elanna placed a kiss in the valley between Seven's breasts. "Are you comfortable here, or should we move to the bed?"
"I like being ravished by you on this couch," Seven merely said as she scooted forward a little. "And since you are changing away from the normal situation and concentrating on me first, I will also change away from the norm. I think I want to experience such a direct approach as you described before."
"Well, I think I wouldn't mind doing that to you once in a while," B'Elanna said happily as she sank lower and searched out her lover's center.
~~~~~~~~~~{}~~~~~~~~~~
The reign of One of Many, née Annika Hansen; Queen of Borg.
Year 00, Month 12, Day 02, Hour 11, Minute 01.
"You wanted to see... me?" Anidan asked as she entered conference room one. The last word had faltered as she saw the fourth person in the room besides Seven, B'Elanna, and Pagsha. Of course Anidan had seen Si'zaG Fe'R of the Siill when she had been on the bridge during the crisis two days before. But the woman looked so different now with her black form hugging uniform instead of the loose cloak she had worn before.
"Si'zaG, would you mind waiting in conference room two?" Seven asked, indicating the holodeck that was attached to the bridge and that was often used for meetings as well, mostly because the holodeck was a lot better suited to show things than a simple PADD was.
"Of course," Si'zaG said as she stood up and headed to the door.
"Please, Anidan, sit down," Seven said. She waited until the Engineer was sitting before continuing. "Two days ago we were having a discussion when we were interrupted by the Hive to let us know that we had encountered the Siill. I would like to continue that discussion now."
"Look Seven. I told you, I do my thing for the Borg, I now consider myself part of the Borg. As much as I would have laughed at you if you had told me this half a year ago, Unimatrix 01 is now my home. But I won't join the Hive again. I'm an individual; I'm no longer giving that up."
"I am not giving that up either," Seven said. "Nor is Pagsha here, nor is Katzi, nor is Lonika. We all join the Hive from time to time, and we all come out as individuals again. Pagsha has to regenerate like all Individualist drones have to. She never asked if she could regenerate the way you and I can. She likes to join the Hive. I myself can regenerate consciously and sometimes do because my conscious focus is needed. But even now I join the Hive again nine out of the ten times I regenerate."
"Seven," Anidan sighed, only to be stopped by Seven lifting her hand slightly.
"I am merely letting you know that I think that you should join the Hive from time to time. You will be amazed by the changes. However, I am not ordering you to do so, nor am I 'strongly suggesting'. This is truly just a suggestion that you can ignore if you want to. The Borg are no longer worried about you having plans to harm them, and they know what you do for us. As such they have agreed that you should be allowed to never connect to the Hive again if you so choose. There are some restrictions there, like if your behavior changes and they feel that your mind has to be scanned as a precaution. But until further notice you do not have to join the Hive again if you do not want. All I am asking you is to truly think about that choice before you make it."
"I will," Anidan said, and Seven had a feeling that the Engineer's mind was already made up. She would not join the Hive unless Seven ordered her to do so.
"Very well. However, regenerating is not the main reason for this meeting. The Borg and I agree that you have done a lot for us, and you continue to do a lot for us every day; literally. We feel that maybe you might actually be doing too much for us."
"Don't tell me that the Borg think that I should cut down on the things I change and create for the Collective," Anidan said with a dismissive chuckle.
"No, but they do think that you should spend less time on things that do not need your attention so that you will have more time to focus on the things that actually do need your attention. I for one am more concerned about you doing so much that you burn yourself out," Seven countered.
"Look, I told you once before that I'm fine," Anidan said annoyed. "And let me tell you, I really don't like the fact that the things I do for the Borg aren't appreciated."
"They are appreciated," B'Elanna spoke up. "Seven just told you that. You just spend unnecessary time on things you don't need to look at anymore. You're wearing yourself out, and if you want to look at it from the side of what you could do with your time you are depriving yourself of a lot of time where you could do other things. Anidan, I'm an engineer at heart, you know that. So you also know that I'm not just talking hot air when I say that I know only too well how hard it is to let your creation go. That creation is your baby, you put a lot of time and effort into it, and now you should just turn your back on it because it's working? No, you want to follow its growth; see how it holds up in daily use. The point is, I as an Engineer on a relatively small starship like Voyager could do that, now I can't."
"That doesn't mean," Anidan interrupted.
"And you most certainly can't either," B'Elanna continued as if Anidan hadn't spoken up. "Do you think Seven doesn't have to let things go as well? Seven started out selecting certain drones for Individualist status, like you. She knew that she was changing the lives of those people. Along the way some of those people became her, and my, friends. You, Pagsha here, Lonika, you name them. Seven really liked to bring people out of the total confinement that being a linked Borg drone is. Do you think that Seven can still do that now? We have over thirty-six billion Individualist drones in the Collective now. Do you think that she made all of them Individualist drones herself? No; other people are doing that now. Drones that Seven turned into Individualist drones are now seeing where and how many drones can be turned into Individualist drones and where the people that are joining the Collective freely as Individualist drones should be stationed. The same goes for Lonika."
"Lonika is in a whole different situation," Anidan objected.
"No he's not," B'Elanna disagreed. "Do you think that he could have done the needed operations on all of those drones himself? Of course not. He created procedures for others to follow. He did experimental operations, and when they were affective he joined the Hive mind so that those doctors on other ships and on planets knew how to do those operations. Hell, still fully linked Borg medical drones are now doing those operations as he did them. You have to let go as well, Anidan. Take the neck implant you created. A brilliant idea that works very well. You created the implant and some of the modules that can be attached to it. But the point is, that implant is ready, those modules are ready. You don't need to get information on every damn neck implant that is implanted so that you can see if it keeps working right."
"That implant can be improved," Anidan said annoyed.
"And nobody is stopping you from doing so," B'Elanna assured. "The thing is, you don't need to get millions of reports to gather information. Hell, if you didn't have the implants that make it possible for you to have the almost instant recall and photographic memory like me, you wouldn't be able to even read all of those reports in the time you have. No, let others gather that info and then send it to you in a report if you don't want to join the Hive to learn the info that way. You focus on those changes you want to make. You focus on changing the implant to have a version of it for those species where the neck, if they even have one, isn't the best place to put such a universal pug-in implant. You can still manage it, just don't do it on a first level. You're a third officer, you can send out commands, you could create a whole sub department just for gathering info. You can then tell them what kind of info to put into a general report, and what to tell you immediately. Say that all info of successful implantations goes into a general report, but that info of an implant procedure where the implant was rejected by the species, is sent to you immediately so that you can have a look and maybe change the implant or design a version just for that species."
"Alright, I'll think about it," Anidan relented.
"I am glad to hear that," Seven spoke up. "However, I am going to force the issue slightly. B'Elanna just rightfully pointed out that there are certain things that do not need your attention on an ongoing basis. There are many things like that. You also take care of giving orders so that maintenance drones do scheduled repairs. Giving orders like that, setting up schedules like that, do take a lot of time as well."
"Fine, I'll see about selecting a few of the Individualist drones in my department and giving them task to take care of, like the scheduling of regular repairs."
"I am glad to hear that as well," Seven said. "However, I still think that you have a tendency to pull all the work towards you to do it because it does not take long and that way you know it is done correctly. Not realizing that a lot of small things that take only minutes still add up to hours of time combined. Therefore I have decided that Engineering will be split into two departments; Engineering and Maintenance. I will put someone in charge of Maintenance that will have the rank of third officer as well. That way you will have to work together with this person instead of just ordering this person to go do other things while you take care of something that this other person could have been doing."
Anidan just glared at Seven.
"You should know by now that a look like that does not impress me at all."
"Damn it, Seven. Things are fine in Engineering, alright? Yeah, so I did focus a little too much on things. Alright, you have a point. As I said, I'll select a few people and give them projects to focus on so that they can then tell me only the things I really need to know. But damn it, don't split my department. Do you have any idea how that makes me feel?"
"I could guess," Seven said. "Probably a combination of you feeling that we think that you failed us, of you feeling that we think that we do not trust you, of you feeling that we do no not truly appreciate what you are doing for us. All of which is totally not true. Anidan, the fact is, I see problems now, and I see them only getting bigger. Think of the size of the Collective. Think of how many reports you would have to read in one year time if you went on like you are now. It is impossible. You have to divide work. In fact, you have to act much like me. Where you are 'Queen' of your department and where the ones under you take care of running that department, while you are on top and take care of the focus on specific projects and looking at situations that those under you brought to your attention."
Seven softened her voice a little, trying to get through the stubborn head of her friend. "Just think back to how it was the first months when you had become an Individualist drone. Just think how you had sat down with B'Elanna, me and Katzi as we discussed Katzi's implants. How you were focusing on that project, how you even had time to make the cover plate that went onto her arm. Tell me honestly, would you not prefer to be working so focused again? Would you not prefer to be able to get an idea and just drop everything and work on that idea? How long has it been since you could do that? How long has it been since you did not have to plan time a week from now, just to work on an idea you have today?"
Anidan sighed; she knew that Seven and B'Elanna had valid points. "This Maintenance department, what focus does it have, what tasks, and who will be in charge?"
"I have not yet decided on a specific dividing of tasks," Seven admitted. "I would much rather prefer that you and the person I put in charge of Maintenance sit down and discuss this. This way you can decide which things you would truly like in your department and which things you can let go of. I warn you though. If you do not come to an agreement I will make the choices as I see fit. I will also look at the task division if you did come to an agreement. This to see if you truly did let go of enough things. But to give you a general idea of what I was thinking of, cleaning the plasma flow regulators of the warp cores is a recurring task that does not need a high level of engineering knowledge of how to do it. A task like that would fall under Maintenance. Creating a new design for the plasma flow regulators, or improving an existing design is a task of Engineering."
Anidan nodded her head a little. She could reluctantly agree that task like cleaning the plasma flow regulators were things that she could let go of. It was just that for her entire life letting go had never been easy for her.
Meanwhile, Seven continued. "Engineering would also be in charge of maintaining the new unit in the beginning until the new unit is tested enough and it can be fit into a standard maintenance schedule. At that time the responsibility for keeping the unit in good condition will transfer from Engineering to Maintenance. However, if Maintenance finds a problem, for instance that the new unit has a surprisingly short usability span. Maintenance will inform Engineering of the problem and the responsibility shifts back to Engineering until they changed the unit's design and once more consider it ready to be handed back to Maintenance for responsibility."
"That can be damn confusing, Seven," Anidan noted. "A project that was my responsibility today might not be tomorrow, only to have it be my responsibility again the next day."
"I realize that," Seven assured. "That is why I want these two departments to work closely together so that handing a project back and forth will be seen as the norm. The confusion of whose project is whose will be limited by the fact that we are working in the Borg. If there is a question as to which department to report something the drone has to do nothing more than link with the Hive and look at a list of all things that these two departments have to deal with and see which department is handling that item at that time. Before you point it out: if a situation is so pressing that even two seconds matter than it is by definition a problem that needs Engineering and not Maintenance because Maintenance does the things that get scheduled, not the things that need attention 'now'."
"Still,"
"I know that at first glance it would be better to simply divide tasks and then have those tasks put in one of the two departments permanently," Seven interrupted. "This will indeed be the case in general, but if we made a clear division on exact individual things and stuck to that, no matter what then soon you would have the same situation again where you are keeping track of a lot of details that do not need your direct attention. You, Anidan, are an Engineer. I want you to have the time to do what you like to do the most; focus on certain projects. While the rest is taken care of by the people that work under you or by Maintenance. I put someone in charge of Maintenance that is very much like you as far as a passion for the job is concerned. But unlike you she does not want to deal with how to create something new, or to enhance something that already exists. She simply wants to make sure that the things that are already in place work on the best possible level and are excellently maintained. You are an Engineer that likes Engineering and will be in charge of Engineering, she is a Maintainer that likes to make sure that things are well maintained and will be in charge of Maintenance."
With that Anidan suddenly realized who would become her equal in this second department, just who she would have to work with on a daily level.
"You're kidding. Surely not her? You don't expect me to work with someone of species 8472," Anidan said in disbelief.
"Someone from the Siill," Seven corrected. "Now that members of the Siill have regenerated they know the standard Borg language and our writing, so communication will no longer be a problem. Get to know her, Anidan. I am not making her part of the senior staff for a political reason, though I did use the position on the senior staff as a political tool. As such it was already decided that this position would go to someone of the Siill. But I made it clear that this person had to be suited for the position and that I would reject any candidate that was not suited for the job. Si'zaG has regenerated, her mind had been fully scanned by the Borg, and she did already join the Hive. She is very suited for this job and I would appreciate if you were to give her a real chance."
"She's a nice person, Anidan," Pagsha spoke up. "I think you'll really like her, if you let her close enough."
"Yeah sure. Last thing I knew letting someone of species 8472 close can be a very deadly thing," Anidan said dismissively.
"Last thing I know letting any Borg drone close can be a deadly thing as well," Pagsha countered. "You know, that whole superior strength thing, and the small fact that every single drone knows all the spots for killing every species with their bare hands that was ever assimilated. Yet you don't fear me, a drone, since I'm your friend. Nor do you fear what you yourself are. Don't hold it against Si'zaG that she happens to be of a species that is stronger than most species to be found in the Collective."
"Or armed with blood cells that would love to kill me if they found the simplest scratch on my skin," Anidan added.
"She doesn't have the claws their warriors have, which were designed by nature to bring blood cells into the body of an enemy. For her to bring some of her blood cells into your body she would need to have a wound, as would you. And you would have to be touching so that blood can reach blood, and you would suddenly have to loose all the nanoprobes in your body since they can neutralize her blood cells in seconds if they were to enter your body," Pagsha persisted.
"Don't hold it against her that she's from a biologically advanced species. Instead you should admire that aspect; I do. Seven wants the two leaders of the two departments to work well together, wants you and Si'zaG to work well together. All I'm adding to that is suggesting to you that you really give it a try. Just look at it. You gave me a chance, and Katzi, and Seven, and B'Elanna. Isn't it nice to give someone a chance and find a friend along the way?"
"Si'zaG is waiting in conference room two," Seven spoke up. "Please, Anidan, at least try."
Continued...